State scrutiny of daily fantasy sports grows
LAS VEGAS (AP) — As more states scrutinize the daily fantasy sports industry, the office of Nevada's attorney general said it used DraftKings' own words and online images as evidence the sites qualify as gambling.
A day after Nevada regulators ordered the sites out of the state unless they get a gambling license, a memo issued Friday cited a three-year-old online "Ask Me Anything" interview on Reddit.com where the office of the state's attorney general said DraftKings CEO Jason Robins compared his site to a casino and described the concept as a mashup between poker and fantasy sports.
In less than two weeks, the two high-profile companies in the ever-growing industry had gone from being a seemingly unstoppable, untouchable force to facing intense scrutiny of their business practices and legality from investigators, lawmakers, regulators and even their own players after it was revealed employees often played on competing sites, raising questions about possible insider information being used to win.
Illinois regulators think daily fantasy sports is illegal under a state law prohibiting Internet gambling, but they plan to ask their state attorney general for a legal opinion next week.
Delaware finance secretary Tom Cook, whose office oversees lottery and casino operations, said state officials are reviewing Nevada's actions evaluating whether any of its conclusions would apply in Delaware, which allows parlay bets on NFL games as one of only a handful of states where legal sports wagering is allowed.